1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a gas supply system for pneumatic store ejection, and more particularly, to a self-contained, fast acting, high flow gas supply system for pneumatic store ejection that charges and stores the gas used for store ejection, and also utilizes a replaceable gas storage vessel/bottle that can be charged offline.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A store is, for example, a bomb, missile, rocket and the like. Pressurized gas has been used to actuate store ejector mechanisms, such as, for example, pistons and suspension and release equipment on bomb racks, to permit forceful ejection of a store while a vehicle is in motion. It is to be understood that a vehicle may be an air, sea, or land vehicle, and the present disclosure will refer to aircraft for ease of description, but is not limited thereto.
In conventional systems, aircraft may be equipped with an on-board compressor for compressing the gas used to actuate the store ejector mechanisms. However, in known systems, the compressor is not a part of a self-contained gas supply system. In addition, while an on-board compressor can recharge the gas-supply system, it is the only available means for charging or recharging the system. Recharging where the compressor is the only option may be a time consuming process, preventing quick mission turnaround.
In many tactical situations, the military wants to fly a bombing mission, return to base, quickly re-load with more bombs, and fly again. However, known gas supply systems and store ejection mechanisms, such as pneumatically powered bomb racks, prevent quick mission turn-around of tactical aircraft. For example, in conventional systems, aircraft must wait until an on-board compressor, for compressing the gas used to actuate the store ejector mechanisms, recharges a gas-supply system. Existing gas supply systems rely only on an onboard recharging system, and due to compressor size, cannot recharge the system in a short time. In addition, existing systems require manual resetting of system components, which also increases turn-around time.
Further, existing systems fail to perform equally well under varied environmental conditions, and may undesirably vary the time to release a store at, for example, different temperatures and air pressures.
Accordingly, there is need for a gas supply system that can operate to desired specifications under all environmental conditions, and a gas supply system with a self-contained compressor design that also provides for automatic resetting of system components and high flow output from replaceable, refillable and reusable gas storage vessels.